India today said the new ammunition for Arjun Tank, successfully tested by DRDO, will provide a "quantum jump" in fire-power of the indigenously-developed main battle tank.
The new tank ammunition called 'Penetration-Cum Blast (PCB) and Thermobaric (TB) Ammunition' is specially designed for Arjun Tank and was recently tested by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
"The trials were found to be very effective and the damage was devastating with the firing of ammunition successfully destroying the target tank and severely damaging its turret, barrel, tracks, ammunition bin, various sights, antennas among others," the Defence Ministry said in a statement.
The ammunitions have been developed by Pune-based DRDO laboratories Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE) and High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL).
During the development phase, these ammunitions were extensively evaluated against different simulated targets - armour plates, concrete structures and fortifications.
The trials were conducted jointly with Army and was aimed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the ammunitions on derelict tank fitted with instrumentation to measure the shocks, blast pressure and temperature at various locations and on advanced imaging systems.
"The trials were unique as for the first time such evaluation is carried out in India which will give a quantum jump in the fire-power of Arjun tanks," the Ministry said.
